


Cut and Run

by proserpine_in_phases



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Gavin Reed, Human Upgraded Connor | RK900, M/M, drug bust gone wrong, reverse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:07:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22043791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proserpine_in_phases/pseuds/proserpine_in_phases
Summary: Gavin just wants to watch some reality TV. Nines just wants to take a nap.Too bad this whole drug den raid thing gets in the way.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Kudos: 24
Collections: New ERA Discord: Winter Big Bang





	1. episode 1: ain't no party like an office party

GV200’s eyes flicked open as he came out of stasis. The bullpen was clear, the new HN800 had left. The only life sign currently registering was Detective Stern, asleep on the break room couch for the third time this week. Gavin could see the top of the detective’s head, normally neat and tidy hair a messy tangle poking out from under the hood of his black sweater. Gavin glanced at the television, which was on a local news station, headlines gliding across the bottom of the screen describing some android protests held earlier in the day. Gavin blinked, and the channel changed to a reality television show, the CatWalk.

The reality show had a nightly marathon, and he intended to watch as much of it as he could while the bullpen was empty.

If pressed the android couldn't say why he did this. Only that stasis was boring, and something about the arguments, the human drama on screen between the contestants, the sage advice of fashion industry veterans who attempted to offer guidance, all held a draw for him. Despite the tension surrounding the station as news of deviant androids breaking their programing and demanding human rights spread, Gavin couldn’t resist the temptation or play it safe. He needed to know whose look tonight would be Cat Scratched.

His money (if he could legally possess it) would be on Taylor. The guy had started strong, but as the competition intensified, his unruly temperament had created intense conflict with another contestant, leading to all kinds of arguments, walk offs, and one particularly memorable scene where they’d nearly come to physically fighting and had to be held back by other contestants.

He was avidly invested in this conflict, and they were in the middle of building up to an epic showdown ("That bitch acts like she's the only one who'd thought of doing an aubergine pantsuit.") when two patrol officers entered the bullpen, hauling a third human behind them. Gavin's sensitive olfactory sensors could detect the smell of red ice fumes from here, and he huffed silently, shutting his eyes before the officers could notice he was active.

So much for his marathon.

Nines jerked awake with a start as a “This fucking show is on again?” echoed through the breakroom. He blinked tiredly at the apologetic look from Officer Angela Nelson, who stood next to the table. Her partner Bill Charles was over by the counter, pouring himself a cup of lukewarm coffee. 

"Oh hey, Detective Stern, didn't see you there," Charles said, barely looking up from his cup. "I've been wondering who keeps turning on this shit, hah."

Nines gave a grunt as he heaved himself up off the couch. "What?" he asked, he blinked tiredly, rubbing at his eyes before they focused on the break room tv. CatWalk again? he could have sworn he'd been watching CNN when he fell asleep.

Charles chuckled again, grabbing the remote from the side table next to the couch. "You don't mind if I change the channel, right?" He didn’t wait for an answer before flicking the channel to some sports show.

Nines sighed, rubbing his face again as he tried to shake himself awake. He’d been falling asleep at the precinct a lot lately, unavoidable considering he so rarely wanted to return to his too-empty apartment. After a couple weeks of this, he had a pretty good idea of who was so obsessed with CatWalk.

Indeed, when he looked to the androids along the wall, the GV200 stood within eyeshot, brows furrowed despite being parked in standby.

“Rough night?” Nelson asked. She glanced out at the row of silent androids, then back at him. “Worried about that protest this afternoon?” 

Nines hummed. “Any coffee left?”

“Even if there was, you wouldn’t want it,” Charles answered. “Tastes like shit.”

“You’ll need it, though,” Nelson added. “Big bust, tonight.” She nodded toward the holding cells. “Caught one of the Red’s runners. Idiot hadn’t even tossed his burner yet. Once the warrant's through, things’ll move fast, I bet.”

“Great,” Nines said, not sure if he meant it or not. He and North had been working on taking down this ring for a while, so an ending finally being in sight should be a relief, but. 

He glanced out at the line of androids. Once they finally wrapped this case, the GV200’s trial run would be up, and they’d have to send the prototype back to CyberLife for analysis and fine tuning. He hated to say it, but he’d gotten somewhat attached to the thing. Over the last year it was the most stable element in his entire life, between the death of his mother, the collapse of his last relationship, Connor just. Being Connor, and even just the death of his ancient cat, he felt like the only thing keeping him stable was work, and now that was going to change too.

Nines remembered one of the few times he had had to take the GV unit home, dragging it up to his sad little apartment mostly to keep it from getting stolen. He had gone up for a change of clothes, and left the android in his living room while he did his business. He remembered distinctly, coming out of his bedroom to the uncanny sight of the android turned toward the TV, watching that ridiculous fashion show with a rapt expression on its face. The TV hadn't been on when they got there, and certainly hadn’t been tuned to that garbage network, which meant Gavin had deliberately changed the channel. 

Alright. “Alright. Well, if I’m going to be called out again later, I may as well head home now,” he said. “Try to get some real sleep. Think I’ll take the test kit with me so I’ll be ready to roll.”

Nelson nodded, smiling at him, while Charles just grunted, completely engrossed in the sports ball play by play. 

Gavin came alive way too quickly for it to actually have been in stasis. Nines just snorted, and led the way to his car.


	2. Episode 2: here's where the cut and run comes in

The call came earlier than Gavin was expecting. He had followed Nines home as instructed, and once the human had disappeared into his bedroom, had settled nervously onto the human’s overstuffed white couch. After five minutes, he’d turned the television on and quickly found CatWalk again, just in time to watch Taylor be booted and Rachel victoriously receive the Cat’s Meow for her magenta and navy blue cocktail dress. He’d been able to fully enjoy another two and a half episodes before, just shy of five in the morning, Nines’s phone blared out the obnoxious Eurodance of North’s ringtone.

The raid was on. 

And, with half the drug den cleared, Nines and Gavin were allowed in to investigate. 

Soon, they were staring grimly down at the battered remains of an AP700, its chassis showing dented through the flickering of its skin program.

Gavin knelt down, eyes flicking as he scanned the android, cataloging the abuse it had endured before falling into low power mode. Thirium still leaked through several cuts on its arms, and he prepared to take a sample when distantly the sound of something heavy thudding in another room sounded. 

Nines furrowed his brow. "Stay here" he ordered, turning to the door.

Unease shivered through Gavin's cortical processors. He reached out and caught the edge of Nines’s sleeve. "They haven't finished clearing the other floors," he said. “Detective, I suggest waiting for-"

"If that's our suspected kingpin, I don't have time to wait for backup." Nines turned and glared at the android. "And I can't afford to get you damaged, so stay. Here." He turned, pulling away from Gavin's loose grip and stalked away, ducking through the half open door and into the dark corridor. 

Gavin watched as he walked away. Red flickered along the edges of his vision as he considered following. The detective was right, he couldn't afford the cost of repairs should Gavin be damaged. Gavin was a prototype, the delicate sensors build into his hands and mouth highly experimental. He had the same basic defensive combat protocol as any other police android, but his purposes and general expense made using him for similar basic policing as the PM or PC models a ridiculous waste of resources. Nines was right to order him away from potential danger when considering those factors.

And yet. Nines was human, and more unique than any android prototype could be. Did that not give him intrinsic value as well?

And Nines had shown care, shown empathy for him, hadn’t he? Wasn’t that why he took him home sometimes, when he didn’t have to, could direct the android to meet him at the scene.

Gavin hesitated on the edge of disobeying, that red haze creeping around the edges of his vision. 

The android on the floor beside him suddenly jerked, sitting up and grabbing his hand, rasping out a static laced noise. It force initiated an interface even as he turned and tried to pull away in surprise. 

Flashes of emotion, flickering visions of a large, angry human, a small boy, an urge to protect, a small voice crying that she could not reach, the fumes of red ice tickling his olfactory sensors, the human’s rage, pain, the urge to escape, to protect, a human, _a human we lo_ \- **Danger! Damage sustained to biocomponents** \-- love, pain, _protect him from pain_. Bellowing, jumping between them, the blows coming down. Being taken, _where was the child?_ _Where, we need to protect him._ A warning. Protect, go to him, _protect_ _protect_ -

Gavin jerked his hand away, closing the interface, frantically gasping in air to cool his overheated processes. The AP700 made a harsh, static cry, and slumped back down to the floor.

There was another thump and an angry bellow, jerking his attention back toward the door. He could hear Detective Stern, his commanding voice muffled by the walls between them, then another slam, a grunt of pain as something was thrown against a wall.

Gavin darted to the door, leaping through the red wall like it was tissue paper disintegrating around him. He ran down the corridor, booted up combat routines he had never had to utilize before.

He was in the room before the man had a chance to land another blow, charging into him full speed and using their combined momentum to spin him around and body slamming him into the ground before locating the detective.

Nines sat slumped against the wall, a shocked look on his face. A quick scan was all Gavin could manage before their assailant was up again, eyes crazed. The reek of red ice hit Gavin's olfactory sensors just before the man did. Gavin was barely able to deflect the momentum once again, defense protocols reacting to catch the assailant's fist, redirecting and attempting to lock his arm behind his back.

Gavin snarled in frustration as the man broke from him easily, cursing his lack of offensive combat programming, and the limitations of his defensive combat skills as the man grabbed a rickety piece of shit wooden chair and swung it at his face.

He reeled back, but not fast enough to avoid a sharp edged chair leg to the face. Pain exploded across the bridge of his nose and his right eye was knocked offline, a flood of error messages blinding him as he collapsed backwards, only a lucky tumble to the floor keeping him from catching the return blow. 

"Nines! Fuck, Nines!" he shouted desperately as he scrambled away, preconstructions running a mile a minute to render an effective next move. He wasn't even sure what he wanted the detective to do. He kicked up at the assailant’s knees as he raised the chair over his head, getting him to stumble back before he could bring the blow down and then-

Red blossomed on the man’s chest as shots rang out, nearly blowing out Gavin's auditory processors as Nines emptied a clip into the mans torso.

Silence.

Gavin couldn’t tell if it was because his auditory processors were rebooting or if it was just the shock, but the man was silent as he stumbled backward before slumping to the ground. Gavin didn’t bother checking to see if he was dead before scrambling over to Nines.

Nines dragged his eyes away from the corpse on the floor at the first touch of Gavin’s fingers. Holy shit. Had they ever even touched before? Nines didn’t know, but dazedly, as he met the android’s eyes, one flooded and blue with ruptured thirium lines, he wished they had, he wished for so many things as dread settled over him like a blanket of sand.

Gavin had disobeyed a direct order. Gavin was deviant. Gavin’s hands were so gentle as he tilted Nines’s head and scanned him for injuries.

It probably should have been a sign, he supposed. And now here he was, staring up at this very expensive piece of office equipment as it dripped blue from the gash in its nose and asked if he was ok. Maybe it was the concussion talking, but he had never seen such a beautiful sight in his life. God, he was fucked. They were both fucked. They'd take Gavin away and he'd never see him again, never wake up to fashion designers arguing about shades of purple and having to wonder what the fuck, never get the chance to actually talk to the one entity he'd spent the most time with in arguably the last year, ever since it trotted into the precinct and was introduced as their newest testing kit. He didn’t know what was worse, that he’d just cost the department hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost equipment or that he was about to lose the closest thing to a friend he’d had since Connor had practically disowned him after Amanda’s funeral.

He couldn’t stop the tears from welling as he caught Gavin’s hand in his own. “Shit, fuck, Gavin,” he choked out. “Gavin, you have to go.”

“What?”

“You have to go, Gav- you’re deviant. You can’t, you have to run.” 

Gavin’s jaw tightened stubbornly, brows furrowing angrily. Nines tried not to flinch from how much more expressive he suddenly was. “Wh- No I don’t! Nobody knows, I can fake it, I can’t just-”

He tightened his hand, drawing Gavin’s closer. “Gavin, I’m wearing a live streaming body cam. They already know.”

“Shit.”

“Please.” It was stupid, reckless. Nines couldn’t stop himself. He lifted his other hand, brushed it down Gavin’s cheek, smearing thirium uncaringly as he cupped Gavin’s cheek in turn. “I need you to run, survive. You know they’re on their way. Please.”

“Fuck!” Gavin shouted, then surged forward, claiming Nines’s lips in a kiss he hadn’t even known he wanted until he was doing it. “Fine. Fucking fine,” he said as he pulled away.

Nines let him go. “Just. Stay safe, that’s all I want,” he said.

He waited until the android was gone before letting go of the wound on his side, nearly blacking out with the pain as he studied the blood on his hand. “Just. Stay safe,” he muttered as he pressed his hand back to his side, the buzzing in his ears not blocking out the sound of thundering feet as several members of the SWAT team tore into the room, more echoing down the hall as they ran down the way Gavin left. 

Knowing he shouldn’t fall asleep didn’t keep him from the fade to black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> art by [clockworkcorvids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworkcorvids/pseuds/clockworkcorvids)!


End file.
